Also On Tonight: 'Frontline' & Other Docs

Another good "Frontline" (CPTV, 9 p.m.) on the economic downturn focuses on a single voice that sent out a warning call amid the booming 90s, only to be shut down and marginalized. At the time, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was the unquestioned wizard, and Brooksley Born was head of an obscure agency called the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

She knew no good could come from the risky, secretive and wholly unregulated derivative markets, whose crash helped spark the financial collapse a year ago. Her warning went unheeded, though a member of Greenspan's team admitted later that was was "clearly a mistake."

The report by Michael Kirk, "The Warning," is like most works on "Frontline" very clear in explaining the complex and secretive forces that caused the implosion.

The ripple effects on industry of the economic picture is on display in the documentary "Butte, America" a film on "Independent Lens" (WGBY, Channel 57, 10 p.m.; CPTV, 11 p.m.) that describes after a mining company messed with one of the main towns of Montana for decades, before leaving them high and dry with some severe environmental disaster areas.

It's delayed in Connecticut by "In Search of the Good Corporate Citizen" (CPTV, 10 p.m.), which plays like an internal corporate film, with panel discussions and case studies on whether salesmen should oversell their goods or what CEOs should know and when they should know it.

The latest documentary in the "30 for 30" series on ESPN focuses on the three year life of the United States Football League. Filmmaker Mike Tollin seems to have an answer to the question posed in his film "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" (ESPN, 8 p.m.) and it's a magnate whose name rhymes with chump.

They're digging for treasure on the beach on "The Biggest Loser" (NBC, 8 p.m.).

Daphne Zuniga is back at the old digs on "Melrose Place" (The CW, 9 p.m.).

A salute to Michael Jackson and a performance by Norah Jones are part of the results show for "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 9 p.m.).

Somehow, this has become the country's No. 1 show: "NCIS" (CBS, 8 p.m.), which has helped make "NCIS: Los Angeles" (CBS, 9 p.m.) a hit as well.

The third episode of "Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)" (IFC, 9 p.m.) is titled "And Now, the Sordid Personal Bits." It includes the members' reaction to celebrity status and the alcoholism of member Graham Chapman. It's followed by "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (IFC, 10:30 p.m.).

It's Game 4 of the American League Championship Series with Yankees at Angels (Fox, 8 p.m.). New York leads the series 2-1.

The NHL has Blues at Penguins (Versus, 7 p.m.). And it's Celtics at Knicks (CSN, 7 p.m.) in preseason baskeball.

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Roger Catlin is TV critic for the Hartford Courant and writes a daily column about what's on television called TV Eye. He is also on the board of the Television Critics Association. Before all of this, he was rock critic ... read more